


Out of Arrows

by blingyeol



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Car Accidents, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-01 22:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2789768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blingyeol/pseuds/blingyeol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"An arrow can only be shot by pulling backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties it means it's going to launch you into something great. So just focus and keep aiming." </p><p>There usually isn't time for encouraging quotes when a car crash happens, but this time the problem is there is too much time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Arrows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sasofy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasofy/gifts).



> written for 2014 Infinite Secret Santa \o/

The car followed route 93 for quite some time, the scenery outside just as unchangeable as the stiffling atmosphere inside. By Sungkyu's estimate they could be somewhere half-way through this more ponderous by every minute trip. It was tempting to check the time but he opted for concentrating on driving and hoping they'll miraculously reach their destination any moment now.

"How much longer?" Woohyun asked for the hundredth time and received the very same answer as every one of those times. Dead silence or no more than Sungkyu shrugging his shoulders.

They already started off with a somewhat gloomy mood thanks to certain obstacles and an argue – or rather a small series of them – that happened before. With every mile covered it grew more stuffy in the borrowed car that the four of them shared. No one spoke unless it was absolutely neccessary and all of them obstinately watched the parched terrain outside the window.

Then a slight change to the stereotype appeared but it wasn't a very welcomed one. Lights appeared in front of them, directing them off the route they were suppossed to follow for at least another hour.

"Oh great, now there's a road diversion too." Sungjong spoke for the first time since they departed.

Another problem , they all thought in unison irritation. One would almost believe they were cursed that day. At least Sungkyu felt that way the whole morning. When it came to Sungjong, he most certainly blamed someone else than lady luck, and it wasn't such a baseless accusation either.

"Why did we even want to see the Grand Canyon in the first place?" Sungjong spitefully asked no one in particular, but kept glaring at his fellow-traveller sitting next to him on the backseat.

"Oh please, don't start again," the indirectly accused boy cut him off while still staring out of the car's window.

"It was Sungyeol's idea," Sungkyu admitted, checking them both in the rear-view mirror. He could see Sungyeol chewing on his lips and deeply frowning Sungjong. He let out a sigh. "But we all agreed to come."

"Yeah," Sungjong snorted, "I definitely agreed to travel for four fucking hours, in this weather, to do the sightseeing in five minutes and then spend another fucking-"

"No one dragged you into the car," Sungyeol snapped, his voice filling the car and intensifying the tension among all of them.

Sungkyu kept glancing at them, waiting for the inevitable argue to happen and thinking about what to do to stop them. Next to him, Woohyun seemingly didn't show any emotions and kept staring in front of him but he stuffed his phone into a pocket, shifting his attention.

"No," said Sungjong, "you just went right to the manager and begged him to let us go by car. Said all four of us wanted this trip so much we're willing to go through this. Without discussing any-"

"I just didn't want to give up!" Sungyeol protested loudly. "We've planned this and-"

Sungjong interrupted him, smirking. "We ?"

"We have planned this," Sungyeol continued, almost hissing the word, "and it felt stupid to put it off just because all flights from Last Vegas have been cancelled."

"You planned it and your plans suck," Sungjong spat.

"Oh shut up, as if you'd plan it better, you couldn't-"

Sungkyu lost his temper and blew the horn. Then he briefly turned around to scowl at them. "Stop it. Both of you. This is just so-"

"Oh my god Sungkyu, there's a deer on the-" Rest of Woohyun's sentence got swallowed up as at the very instant, Sungkyu reacted and swerved the car off the road. They could see the said deer hurriedly running to the oppossite side but there was no time to take a breather.

Terrain around the road was bumpy, strewn with rocks. They ran over one of the bigger ones and the car dangerously shook from side to side.

"Stop the car!" someone shouted.

Sungkyu managed to step on the brakes but it was perhaps a second too late. They hit one of the bigger rocks and without any warning, the car completely rolled over. Down was up and then down again.

On the first roll, glass on the right side shattered, raining down on Woohyun and Sungjong, who were both still conscious at the time. Sungkyu wasn't. When the roof hit the ground, last thing he registered was a blinding pain shooting through his head and ringing in his ears.

On the second roll there wasn't much of the glass left intact. Sungyeol was holding onto the seats for his life. When the left side came in contact with the ground, a shard of glass pierced through his shoulder.

Then the car stopped.

 

First thing he perceived was the sharp smell. Gasoline, smoke. Then he took in the scene, slowly realizing what had just happened. Still trapped inside the car, Sungyeol was situated on the side that remained crashed into the ground. There was blood seeping through his t-shirt but it didn't hurt. Not yet anyway.

Everything felt so surreal it took a few seconds to fully grasp, but he knew they gotta get out of here. He fumbled for the seatbelt and opened it up with hands shaking. Lifted himself up, cutting his palms against the shattered window glass but hardly noticed.

Sungjong started moving next to him – or more like above him. He was there, holding in place by the seatbelt straps. Having been asked in an interview, Sungyeol would probably answer that if a car crash was to happen, he'd panic. He'd be quite sure, too. But he didn't. Speed wasn't his strength here, but he got them outside, step by step.

Once outside they gasped for air, disoriented and confused. Woohyun was out, too. Neither Sungyeol nor Sungjong noticed when that happened. The world was still oddly slow, soundless and kind of like a dream for them.

Sungyeol temporarily snapped out of it when he was finally able to remember – or perhaps understand – the smoke. "The car's on fire, we better get away."

Woohyun nodded slowly and stepped out, then stopped. "Sungkyu's in there. Sungkyu's in there," he repeated, "we have to get him out."

"Shit." There were tiny flames already visible along the crumpled hood, licking the steel and getting closer to the windows. In a split of a second, Sungyeol got right there, working his way into the car wreck again.

Later, when they're all safe and resting, he's going to lose it. But not now. At this moment, he needed to save his friend who's evidently unconscious – or dead, Sungyeol's mind produced but he shook it off – and trapped inside. His fingers were just long enough to reach for the buckle, but not to unlock it. He got further in, leaning on the broken shards and vaguely perceiving the pain. Grabbed Sungkyu's lifeless arm. That was it though. Sungyeol couldn't lift him up.

"Help me," he yelled out, still half-way inside, "can't get him out."

It's not a matter of strength as they found out soon afterwards. "He's stuck in there," Woohyun pointed out and backed off.

Sungyeol looked at him in desbelief. "We're not leaving him."

"The fire's spreading."

Woohyun was right. The flames were barely inches from them, growing in size and threatening. There was a moment when Sungyeol thought hard, even though it's not an easy thing to do when you feel helpless and confused. They could call for help, they could. But something told him that if there had been no help up to this point, it wouldn't be that easy. And either way Sungkyu would most likely burn to death before anyone arrived.

"I'm going in."

Woohyun tried to stop him, talk him out of it. Sungjong started sobbing. Sungyeol cursed and dived into the backseats, legs first. Even with all the windows shattered, the air inside was suffocating. Through the space between the front seats, he could see Sungkyu's leg twisted and stuck under the seat. As he reached out and released it, the flames came dangerously close.

"Ok, here we go," he told the unconscious body and lifted it up. It was harder than it had seemed and his left hand refused to cooperate. The seat beneath him caught on fire and he urgently pushed Sungkyu up again. Thankfully, there were Woohyun and Sungjong grabbing him from outside and clearing way for him to get out.

Sungyeol fell out of the car and hit the ground quite hard. The world started spinning. He shook his head, tried to balance. "We should run," he panted. It's no good staying close to a car on fire. What if it explodes? Isn't that what cars always do in action movies?

He stumbled and tripped over his own feet, yet kept going. Sungkyu was being half-carried half-dragged by Woohyun and Sungjong somewhere to his left. Sungyeol was just looking to make sure they're okay when his feet slipped and he started falling down and down, rolling like the car they've just left. And eventually everything went black.

 

There was silence at first. Then he heard the chirping sound, quiet but slowly building up and becoming so loud he raised hands to cover his ears. Crickets, or cicadas more likely.

"You up?"

Sungyeol tried to open his eyes but got blinded by the sun right above his head. It was scorching hot and it felt as if the sunrays were burning a hole into his forehead. There were drops of sweat all over his face. He ran his hands over the heated skin and attempted to smear them away. His left hand felt stiff and sitting up proved to be a harder task than he'd ever imagine.

"Nice and slow," Sungkyu's voice instructed him and he saw him to his right, leaning against a tree trunk. "I was already getting worried."

"How long was I out?" Sungyeol's voice came out dry and raspy. At that moment he would have even drank those protein drinks he's hated with a passion all his life.

Sungkyu shrugged his shoulders. "Half an hour, maybe. Hard to tell."

They were at the bottom of a rather steep slope – almost a cliff – not a high one but not an easily climbed up one either. The same slope was on the oppossite side, making it look like a dried up riverbed. There were a few trees here and there but they offered little to no shelter from the sun that was almost in the middle of its way from east to west, right above their heads. Woohyun and Sungjong were nowhere to be seen, Sungyeol realized and opened his mouth to ask.

"They went to get help," Sungkyu said first, eyeing him carefully. "My leg's probably broken so I couldn't walk anyway and someone needed to stay here with you."

Sungyeol nodded while frowning a little. His head hurt and he was still feeling dizzy. He was finally starting to feel his injuries, too. The biggest share of the pain stemmed from his left shoulder, which appeared to be bandaged up by a checkered cloth. Then there were a few bruises along his arms and when he lifted up his shirt, he noticed a large burn, probably from the fall.

"I bandaged your arm. Was bleeding pretty bad," explained Sungkyu.

Pretty bad was quite accurate to say, as Sungyeol inspected the blood all over the left side of his no longer white shirt.

"What about your leg?"

"The fall didn't improve it much," Sungkyu said jokingly, "Now it's ok as long as I don't move it."

They both looked pitiful. Alone in a desert-like surroundings, getting sun-burnt and dehydrated. Sungkyu's leg wasn't twisted in a weird way anymore but it did hurt. So did the bump on his head and sores all over his body, from the seatbelt especially. Sungyeol was blood-stained and fatigued. They were both covered in small cuts in places clothes didn't protect.

A pain rising in Sungyeol's chest was worse than all of this though. He could feel his breath becoming shallow and heart beating faster.

"How long have they been gone?" he asked, desperately trying to ignore the uneasiness that spread through him like a flood.

"Told you, you've been out for about half an hour," Sungkyu answered calmly. "They left soon after we ended up here. It's impossible to climb back up but it should be possible to walk around it, so that's what they're doing."

"Okay." It was not okay. There should have been help ages ago. The route they were traveling through was not some kind of an abandoned road in an uninhabited region. Well, technically it was but it was a detour from the main road and all the cars must be following it. There were cars around them even when the accident happened, or so he thought. Somebody ought to had called an ambulance already.

Sungyeol swallowed the lump in his throat and occupied himself by looking around. As expected, there was no water source anywhere around and probably not miles away. It was as if the nature dug the chasm there right at the moment of their accident, on purpose, just because. Although cars weren't heard down here they couldn't be far. If they screamed maybe someone would hear. Sungyeol nearly laughed at his own stupidity. Cars couldn't be heard down here and he assumed their screams would.

"It's going to be fine," Sungkyu assured him. There wasn't much left until Sungyeol starts panicking, he could see it all too well. Even without a car crash happening he sometimes did. When his insecurities built up and his anxiety took over it was hard to calm him down but Sungkyu thought he knew the way.

Another half an hour later, Sungyeol shakily got up and stretched out the stiff muscles briefly. Sungkyu watched him pace back and forth between the two slopes.

"What if they don't come back?"

Sungkyu sighed and adjusted his posture a bit, careful not to move his leg. "They'll come back. Don't you trust them?"

"I do," Sungyeol started, "but there's so much that can happen."

"Like what? Tell me." Sungkyu was still as calm as he can be; as he needs to be, for Sungyeol. The moment he joins his panic, it would be over and they would both freak out, he was sure of that.

"Like," Sungyeol didn't need to think for a long time. "Like that the cliffs go on forever and they won't make it. They can faint, from dehydration or the injuries or just the shock, I don't know. They could be unconscious right now for all we know." He stopped the endless pacing suddenly. "Don't we have phones?"

Before Sungyeol proceeded to check his pockets, Sungkyu had to disappoint him. "We checked. Woohyun got his but it broke down – during the car crash or the fall, who knows. Mine and Sungjong's stayed in the car and so did yours.

Hey, they'll come back just fine. Woohyun got out without any major injuries, only a few scratches. Sungjong might have a twisted wrist but he's fine otherwise." When there was not much of a response, Sungkyu asked him: "Sungyeol, when does dehydration happen?"

It took him out of his scattered thoughts and focused him on the answer. "When you use up more water than you drink."

A smiled played upon Sungkyu's lips. "See? We're fine. We drank throughout the journey and it's only been an hour or slightly longer."

"An hour in a sauna," Sungyeol pointed out. "And I've lost blood so I'm feeling thirsty and exhausted as fuck already."

There wasn't much to brighten that statement with in Sungkyu's inventory. So instead he beckoned Sungyeol to come sit by his side. Oddly, it brought up memories of them in the practice room. Overwhelmed with all the work, panting and sweating through their clothes and so, so tired. Like now. As hard as it was, Sungkyu took a deep breath and started talking about it. Talked until his voice cracked, until there wasn't anything to say.

"It's okay," Sungyeol murmured. He tried to recall how many times those words had been said today already. "I appreciate it but you won't stop me from worrying to death anyway."

"Not to death, please. I need you around to save me if needed." Sungkyu glanced at him, slits instead of eyes as the sun was too strong. "I know you pulled me out. Thank you."

No problem , Sungyeol could have said. It would be half a lie as it certainly wasn't no problem diving back into the car on fire to retrieve a lifeless body. Only half, though. The desicive moment was shorter than a blink of an eye and not a problem at all. All Sungyeol knew was that he didn't want to lose him.

It had to be way past noon but the sun felt hotter by the second. Sungyeol rested his head on Sungkyu's shoulder, making him wince a bit. "Sorry," he apologized first, "and thank you, too."

"For what? You were the one who saved my life."

"And you tended my wounds and stayed by my side and you're trying to tone my anxiety down," Sungyeol enumerated. "But that's not what I'm mainly thanking for."

"Oh." Sungkyu felt him stir and raise his head up again, taking the heavy burden away from his shoulder but dropping it down right onto his heart because Sungyeol's eyes locked with his and didn't waver.

"Thank you for staying alive," Sungyeol said, smiling. And he was so close it tempted him to lean in even further. Unlike when put in a situation where Sungkyu's life is at stake, Sungyeol hesitated over this. It felt right because damn, they've just survived a car crash and they weren't completely safe just yet and who knows what could happen. It felt wrong because they might still survive, even his tendency towards catastrophic scenarios didn't completely eradicate that option. And what would he do in a world where he's kissed his bandmate, that was a whole new source of worries he should have had no room to think about.

Sungyeol withdrew an inch, then decided to lean back in and quickly kissed Sungkyu's forehead. It was just a little, innocent, friendly peck but it twisted his guts into knots. For a few seconds, he even forgot about the pain, dehydration, the unbearable heat.

 

"Shouldn't we be back on the route by now?" Sungjong asked. Not that sense of orientation was one of his strengths, but they were walking back along the way they drove through and the road was suppossed to bend towards them any time now.

Woohyun briefly checked the sun, which he tried to avoid looking into as much as possible – which wasn't so easy as they were heading west. "We've been walking for at least two hours. Did we get lost?"

Sungjong let out a shallow laugh, voice cracking up a bit. "How the hell can we be lost at the bottom of a riverbed?"

They stopped. When they looked back, they could roughly see the direction they came from, although none of the silhouttes they left behind. As they got further, the way twisted ever so slightly and the cliff covered their view. The corridor was getting narrower too and there were no signs of the ground rising under their feet.

"I don't get it," Woohyun admitted in defeat and sat down. Although not severely injured, his neck hurt and his side was burned. And then there was the heat and thirst.

"We should head back," he said after a while, when Sungjong sat down in front of him and folded his head against knees in a desperate attempt to hide from the sun.

"Nah," Sungjong mumbled into the knees. "We've still got time before sunset."

"Man I wish for a sunset more than ever in my life." Woohyun imagined the heat dropping down, maybe even some cool breeze picking up. They promised Sungkyu they would get back before sunset in any case. It was more of a reassurence when they knew help is just around the corner, definitely.

"Yeah, it would be absolutely lovely to spend a night here. God knows what animals live here and how low the temperatures drop."

"If anything actually lives here, I'd fetch it for dinner," Woohyun grinned. "Yum."

Sungjong raised his head and massaged his sore shoulders. "So, where's your bow and arrows, Katniss?" he said, smiling rather bitterly.

It was harder to get back on the track once they've sat down to rest. The heat was bad as it was, but it was unbearable when you tried to move in it. Just five more minutes , they'd tell themselves, like school kids pleading to their parents that came to deprive them of their sweet sleep. Except that now they would welcome a pair of hands pulling them up and shoving them to get moving.

Sungjong heard it first. Among the buzz that cicadas were making all around them, there was a louder noise increasing, until it was right there. A car. Somewhere behind that cliff, a car could be heard. Although they knew it must be close to the road, they hadn't heard one ever since they fell down here.

The moment he jumped up and launched forward, the world spinned around Sungjong and he felt blood rushing down from his head, leaving his dizzy. He hardly had any time to wonder if it's a result of an internal injury he doesn't know of or just the heat and dehydration, before his body hit the ground.

 

Few miles away, the neverending what-if chain of assumptions resumed. Sungyeol started pacing again while listing every single possibility. Sungkyu crawled a few meters away from his original spot, reveling in the tiny line of shadow that the lowering sun provided.

"Say they do get help, but can't find their way back," Sungyeol was just describing.

"Unless the space spreads into a Grand Canyon anywhere close, I'm sure they won't get lost." Sungkyu had his eyes closed, which was rather dangerous. He was so, so tired. More than after any all-nighter they had pulled before their comeback stages.

"But can a car fit in here? If the paramedics are running all the way, that would explain the time it's taking."

"Can you lie down across the space between the cliffs?" Sungkyu inquired but didn't wait for an affirmation. "Then a car can definitely fit in."

Sungyeol nodded but his face stayed clouded. "Why are they taking so long then?"

"It just feels long." The truth was, they were taking long. And it bugged Sungkyu just as much but he still tried his best to remain calm. They won't die in a few hours out here and if nothing happened to Woohyun and Sungjong, they'll come back with help, eventually. If.

Sungyeol barely had energy to make yet another circle, and so he almost collapsed next to Sungkyu. "What if something did happen to them?"

It was hard to be comforting when he was hardly awake but Sungkyu tried. Put an arm around Sungyeol's back, careful not to touch his shoulder much. Although his shirt that he used as a temporary bandage was black and red, he could still see the blood seeping through. Sungyeol's body was tense, and shaking a bit.

When he was temporarily short of what-if scenarios, Sungyeol dived into analyzing their actions, starting from the "why didn't you stop the car earlier?", to which Sungkyu had to admit to being in a shock or something, and ending with a "how did we fall of the cliff all at the same time?".

That was a befitting question. Sungkyu guessed they were too preoccupied dragging him along and so they didn't notice where they're stepping. The other cliff being so close could have created an illusion of continuing ground further ahead too. But how did all three of them fail to notice the gap in between, he had no idea.

Another thing to speculate was why did they ever run away from the road and not closer to it. Sure, there was the car in the way but they could've had run around it. Sungyeol would blame it on the shock and disorientation but that didn't quite fit as he didn't feel one bit confused when he concentrated on getting Sungkyu out.

"Do you remember that book I lent you?" Sungkyu asked suddenly. "The encouraging one."

"The one that was passed around through all of us?" Every single one of them sure needed it from time to time and it was quite helpful. Sungyeol didn't forget it was Sungkyu who bought it and gave it to him first though.

"There was this one quote," said Sungkyu, "about an arrow. 'An arrow can only be shot by pulling backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties-"

"-it means it's gonna launch you into something great'," Sungyeol finished. He had a feeling there was one more sentence to it but couldn't remember and didn't want to ruin how well it sounded.

However Sungkyu recalled the rest as well and completed him. "'So just focus and keep aiming.'"

They smiled into the still and dry air that made them sleepy, made their skin become a parchment, their throats burn. Despite that, it felt calm and nice for a moment, saying those encouraging words, remembering the past.

"But I can't help feeling a bit like we're running out of arrows."

"We'll shoot rocks then," Sungkyu replied, so naturally that it made Sungyeol laugh. And he laughed for quite some time too – and stopped only because his injuries started to hurt.

It was then that he felt like talking about it. Maybe it was the blood loss making him feel almost drunk on this mood their short isolation from the world created. Maybe he just still wasn't sure they're going to make it. "You know, there was one time when I felt really weird, because I wanted to kiss you. On the lips."

It wasn't just one time but Sungyeol played safe, for now. He could still talk his way out of such a statement, with something in the lines of "it was back then when we got so drunk and I've no idea how did this even cross my mind, isn't it funny?". It was everything but funny though. The whole idea of him having a crush on his bandmate and, well, the very badly done car crash and their situation now.

"I know," said Sungkyu and felt Sungyeol stir next to him, possibly because it must be a bit shocking to find out you were not as subtle as you'd like to think you were. "When you kissed me on my forehead, right?"

Sungyeol forced a smile. "Yeah, yeah. I was just so grateful I'm not alone here and that you're helping with the, uhm, calming down and-"

"Then at the hotel the day we arrived and got drunk in the evening. Right before we fell asleep, you stared at me, all sobered up – or maybe not quite, because you can't be sober to attempt that." Sungkyu awkwardly laughed on his own, leaving Sungyeol more shocked with every word he said.

"So you've said a little lie right there, it wasn't just one time ," he added, sneaking a look at Sungyeol who currently had an expression of a boy walking into the girls restroom.

"I... uhm," Sungyeol faltered, "I'd rather go back to all the what-ifs and debates whether we're gonna get out of this shit or not."

"You started it," Sungkyu responded, in a very offended-Sungjong-like manner.

The silence that commenced was similar to the state right after Sungyeol woke up from his black-out. The cicadas chirped louder than before, and the weather grew hotter, even though they were covered in shade almost fully now. At least we don't get to think about what if they don't come back and you should have stopped the car , Sungkyu noted.

"When we're rescued, you can."

"I can what?" Sungyeol didn't apprehend.

"Kiss me," explained Sungkyu, while awkwardly massaging his own thighs.

Sungyeol wasn't sure how to feel about that and he decided to save that for when they really are rescued. "Why not now?"

"Because it would feel as if we're really dying and so we're doing all the stuff we didn't get to do before we die."

"Isn't that really the case though?"

"Oh please," Sungkyu pleaded grimly but he knew Sungyeol's joking. "Don't make me feel like all my talks didn't help at all."

 

They heard the car before they saw it. It had them jumping up – literally in Sungyeol's case and jumping up in a startle in Sungkyu's, who was sure he couldn't jump up even if there was an avalanche falling on his head. When it got closer, they could see it's an ambulance.

The rest happened very fast compared to the painfully slow wait in the scorching sun and dry air. Every gulp of water they were offered inside tasted like ambrosia. Woohyun and Sungjong were there too, and they all hugged and even cried a little. It was all over now.

And among that, Sungkyu was smiling at Sungyeol and Woohyun kept talking and no one was really responding to anything he said, until he said it three times in a row. "I'm saying I piggybacked Sungjong for like half a mile, maybe even further!"

"Yeah, we've heard," Sungyeol assured him but then softened up. "Woohyun, you're really amazing."

And then – when Woohyun grinned in satisfaction and paid attention to his water bottle – Sungyeol tilted closer to Sungkyu and whispered: "So, where's my kiss?"


End file.
